People with a reduced function for ingesting food orally under their own power due to advanced age or illness (referred to below as “patients”) are supplied with fluids such as liquid food or nutrients using a fistula catheter.
When water is used in a fistula catheter employing a balloon, the water introduced into the balloon can leak out spontaneously, deflating the balloon, and the balloon may deteriorate and rupture due to contact with bodily fluids or the substance being supplied into the internal organ, and the fistula catheter may undesirably be removed from the fistula. In such cases, the fistula often closes up in a matter of hours so it may no longer be possible to reinsert the fistula catheter. It therefore becomes necessary to form a fistula again. To prevent such an occurrence, an arrangement has been proposed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0119793 A1 in which a reinforcing material is embedded inside the balloon so that the balloon is less likely to deteriorate or rupture.